Gather ‘round the campfire to tell the tale of a folk hero long past in this storytelling TTRPG inspired by framing narratives like Name of the Wind. Explore themes of power and history as the story is warped by the conflicting ideals of those telling it
How I Heard It is a GM-Less storytelling game designed to be playable around a campfire. Work together with 3-6 friends to collaboratively tell the story of a folk hero: starting from their humble origin, to their great deeds, to their somber end.
You are not the sword wielding hero or the fire blasting mage. You are but a humble chronicler, a storyteller passing folk lore onto the next generation. You have ideals and you must pass them on using folk power and influence. But beware, the other chroniclers might not be on the same page.
Use simple mechanics inspired by improv games to nudge to current storyteller towards your ideals. Influence tokens allow you to alter the rules of the narrative with "That's Not Quite Right." Folk Power tokens allow you to remind the narrator of new and old things with "You're forgetting..."
How I Heard It is a game about how people with and without power shape the lore we tell. Who gets to control the narrative? How do we overcome influential powers in storytelling? For that reason, we are happy to welcome 3 Guest Writers (plus more to be unlocked with stretch goals!), each bringing a unique perspective on folk stories and power dynamics in storytelling!
Play is centered on Worldsheets, 2 page spreads describing the foundations of a setting, its prominent factions, the ideals held by its denizens, and the themes of the stories you'll tell in that world. It takes just a minute to read a Worldsheet, and they contain everything you need to start playing in a new world, be that a rotting archipelago or an icy space station. The base game will contain 12 Worldsheets including 5 from guest writers. More guest writers and Worldsheets will be added to the game if stretch goals are funded!
Tell the tales of a rotting archipelago ruled by Lich Kings in Bilgeroot.
Whisper the tunes of The Great Empty, a chalky plane oppressed by the Royal Navy.
Sup at the Tearoom with the hero themself, who is keen to make sure your tales are told true.
Tell ghost stories at Camp Sunset, scare your camp mates, and maybe impress that special someone.
Relate war stories at The End of the Universe. Pass something on to the next world.
Prophesize about the hero After Fate, who will bring us back from the breaking of luck.
Usurp the Deep Tyrant and tell the forbidden lore of The City and the Lovers.
And more!
An Example Worldsheet for Bilgeroot - an archipelago of rotting royalty filled with pirates and mudlarks. Layout and art subject to change.
The book itself is used to track your games. No character sheets needed, just write directly in the book! Each worldsheet has a has a corresponding spread called a World Chronicle. Each world chronicle can track multiple games worth of stories, and has legacy elements. People, places, events, and even themes and heroes may come up again in future games played in the same world. If you really don't want to mark your book up (though I strongly recommend you do), you can always print off the world chronicles.
How a world chronicle might look after 1 game: names, events, and locations from the game are recorded and may carry over to the next. Layout subject to change.
The PDF version of HIHI will be distributed via itch.io. It will include the core book in a PDF readable version and a booklet printable version to bring with you in the woods. It will also include blank world chronicles for printing.
The Physical HIHI Zine
The physical version of HIHI is a digest (5.5" x 8.5"), full color, ~70 page wire bound zine. It is lovingly designed with beautiful linocut-style art and simple, readable layout. The wire binding makes it easy to use directly as a journal for your games while playing outside.
Linocut Printed Physical Zine (20 Available)
By Zephyris - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27664024
The Deluxe Zine will be the same interior quality as the physical zine, but will have a handmade linocut cover exclusive to this campaign. Lino printing is a printing process where sheets of linoleum are hand carved and used to print ink on paper. Due to variance in the process, every print made with a lino-cut relief will be completely unique! Nala will also hand draw on the cover with ink pens, so you will have a handmade piece of art on your book.
Alex Roberts is a game designer, counsellor, and educator living on Lkwungen territory in Victoria, BC. She is best known for mechanically elegant but psychologically complex games like Star Crossed (winner of the 2019 Diana Jones Award) and For the Queen. When not concocting lists of bizarre commands (sometimes known as TTRPGs), she can usually be found tinkering with her vintage video game collection or brewing a lovely cup of tea. Keep up with her antics at helloalexroberts.carrd.co
Project Lead for Five Points Games and Freelance TTRPG Writer, main driver behind Blasting Off Again!, The Road is the Enemy, and A Monster's Tail. Avid cider maker and firm believer in the power of a story and a meal shared and an evening spent with friends both old and new.
Aaron is a writer from the South Pacific. He tells stories between the sea and the stars.
George Philbrick (he/him) is a founder of First Pancake Studios, a tabletop and video game studio based out of New England. He has a history of TTRPG projects (see his itch page https://dairykillsme.itch.io/) including a successfully fulfilled zine month project, Thieves of the Tome. By day he is an Embedded Hardware Engineer, and by night he plays, writes, and organizes games. He is an avid camper, video game designer, and stone carver on top of his TTRPG design work. His experience leading Thieves of the Tome (which funded >1000% of its goal) makes him well equipped to lead another successful TTRPG crowdfunding campaign.
Nala J. Wu (they/them) is a proud multiple-marginalized art director and award-winning illustrator who works full time in TTRPGs doing character/costume design, hand drawn titles, layout design, and cover/key art. Through their work, Nala advocates for the positive representation and inclusion of those for whom the spotlight has historically been denied. Besides art, Nala does voice acting, sensitivity consultation, and professional TTRPG actual play stream performance. In their free time, Nala loves experimenting with makeup, eating ungodly amounts of pasta, and Committing To The Bit (whatever the bit may be).
Eric Lazure (@ericlazure.bsky.social, https://ericlazure.itch.io/), a fan of TTRPGs since the 1980s, has combined his passion with his skills as a legal editor to edit indie TTRPGs, such as Stoneburner, Midnight Muscadines and Lordsworn. He also recently helmed a first major project of his own: Hope Springs Eternal, a supplement for Daggerheart.
First Pancake Studios is pleased to welcome guest writers to this project. Each will bring their own perspectives on folk stories to your table through worldsheets. More guest writers will be unlocked by future stretch goals. Hipólita (she/her) is a trans TTRPG designer from Argentina known for her work on Cantrip, RAD and Lex Ecclesiastica, among other games. She has collaborated as writer, editor and consultant on dozens of games, always focusing on Latin American folklore and culture, questions of identity and, because she can't help herself, historical materialism.
Glaiza is a Filipino-American third culture kid with cultural experiences from Brunei, Cambodia, Philippines and Korea.He is a game designer, writer, performer, podcaster and variety streamer that’s made their home in tabletop roleplaying games. Tavvy is a writer enamored by storytelling in all its forms and specializes in screenwriting and narrative design focusing on comedy, horror, and fantasy-adventure. They are also easily smitten by shiny items, books, and lovingly crafted databases.
You can try a free ashcan of the game on my itch, with the first three Worldsheets. It being an ashcan just means it's a quick and dirty way to get the game out to you so you can try it before the real polished thing is here!
Shipping fees will be collected after the campaign through Backerkit. We expect shipping to run about the same as it did for our last campaign.
US Backers: ~$5-6 for USPS Media Mail
International Backers: ~$15 for backers outside of the US. This is unlikely to include customs.
After the campaign, we will kick off our guest writing and art to start work on all additional content. We expect this work to be completed by the summer of 2026, then go to layout with George. If all goes well, the PDF will be delivered in October 2026, and the print versions will ship domestically in November 2026, and internationally in December 2026.
If you backed Thieves of the Tome last year, you'll notice this is a longer timeline than previous. We have learned from our work on Thieves that things will often not go to plan, and we need extra time to deal with issues in production. This timeline has significantly more padding built in, and we anticipate being able to deliver without delays. If delays occur we will communicate promptly and clearly.
I'm happy to say this is not our first crowdfunding rodeo, so I'm very confident in our ability to deliver an awesome game to you all!
If you are interested in covering How I Heard It, please find the press kit at the following link and feel free to reach out directly to [email protected] Press Kit Here
How I Heard It uses no Generative AI
💥 Zinetopia 2026
This project is participating in Zinetopia! A Small-format TTRPG event celebrating Zine Month running February 2–27, 2026.
📖 What is Zine Month? Zine Month is a month-long online celebration observed every February by the tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) community where creators share and launch new DIY zines.
🔥 Unlock the Limited Zinetopia Freebie! Receive the limited edition Zinetopia 2026 Group Zine when you back 5+ projects featuring 60+ pages from participating creators full of mini-games, sketches, activity pages, and more!
